22 year old crushed to death by barbell

[Saudi89]

I am trying not to be afraid of insulin
And now this

 

[Capin]

Your above statements make perfect sense Mike Arnold, I have pretty good chest development and I have always relied on the flat barbell bench press for the fact that of all the different types of chest exercises it works best for myself. Contrary to devistating injury lol...

"I'll bench till I die or it kills me"

I know that's not funny considering what this thread is about. But the fact is sooner or later one way or another we all gonna die.
But it is very unfortunate that a young man's life was cut short due to some silly weightlifting accident.

 

[Saudi89]

I am in Saudi Arabia and nobody knows how to spot even if you explain it to them
Nobody is doing full repetition and they curl it for each other
At my gym its very bad
Some of the guys are starting to develop injuries
They are putting all the weight on their ligaments and tendons
They can't even do it once on their own

Egypt next door is different
They have powerlifters and Olympic lifters

 

[westlad]

I would bench and squat in a rack... good racks have close spacing so you can hit the spot you want...

 

[LK3]

scary shit...
many years in gyms = seeing lots of stupid shit.
this is one thing that has scared me a lot recently....

you don't think about this when young n stupid.

im paranoid about passing out somehow n dropping a dumbbell on my face.

wish I had more machines.

 

[BigTex]

I 100% agree that it is important to vary one's exercise selection, especially when training heavy, or else CNS burnout will ensue--that is the main issue. However, some exercises are CERTAINLY better than others for building mass (in general), as they activate a greater amount of muscle fibers. That is the key. So, when attempting to build maximum mass, it is important to select exercises which require your body to call upon the largest number of muscle fibers possible. For example, if someone wanted to maximize back mass, they would experience profoundly better results switching between barbell rows, T-bar rows, chest-supported rows (plate loaded), deadlifts, and chins...compared to cable pullovers, one-arm cable pulldowns, and other exercises that don't allow maximum poundages to be used. Or, if training triceps, much better results will be had relying on heavy extensions and dips...compared to rope pressdowns, kickbacks, etc.

So yes, we need to switch out exercises to avoid CNS burnout, but switching to just anything isn't wise--if we want to maximize growth. When we switch, the goal should be to use whatever exercises enable us to activate the greatest number of muscle fibers in that muscle...which are usually those exercises that allow us to handle the most weight (barbell curls vs. cable concentration curls, for example).

I completely agree with CNS burnout with heavy training. Changing exercise, rep ranges etc help avoid this and will keep you from having to take time off. As far as exercises, IMHO free weights are always preferable to machines, compound exercises are usually preferable to isolation exercises for building mass. I like using free weights at lower reps (5-6), dumbbells (6-8), machines (8-12) and cables (12-15). Changing grips and planes of movement (angles) are always helpful. Especially the back (and chest). The traps for instance have upper, middle and lower fibers. Each have to be worked at a different angle as each perform a different movement in regards to the scapula. Nothing beats bent over rows with a barbell bringing the bar to the area you want to grow. Certainly nothing wrong with doing the deadlift to build back thickness, but I prefer rack pulls from the knee as I spent way too many years competing in the deadlift. As for chest supported rows, I hate them. Pulling the weigh puts too much pressure on the chest and I can’t breathe properly. Bent over rows are much better for me.

I also do not like doing single arm exercises with anything. Seems to me it just doubles the amount of work you have to do to get the job done. If at all possible I will find a compound exercise to do the same job. If you need to do iso-lateral work, there are plenty of good machines (Hammer Strength) that will do this like doing a bilateral exercise or even dumbbells. Triceps, my favorite for building mass is the JM Press 6-8 reps, heavy dips and then do cables or ropes with higher reps (12-15).

I think using all of these rep ranges stimulate maximal contractual fiber growth as well as forcing the sarcoplasm to supersaturate with aminos, glycogen and water. Thus, you end up with a much denser and fuller muscle. This is the same concept as used in conjugate type training protocols. Dr. Bret Contreras has done a lot of writing about this theory and pretty much show it exists on a study he did. Others that have investigated this same theory are Dr. Mel Siff, Dr. Y.V. Verkhoshansky and Dr. V. M. Zatsiorsky. They all determined that the pump supersaturates the muscle cell. Once the integrity of the cell wall is at risk, the hypertrophy process starts and is considered a more non-contractually hypertrophy. Which seem to be more prevalent in sets in the 8-15 rep range.

Yes, I agree Mike you have to find out what works best for you. Lots of the machines don’t work so well with me because they seem to be made for smaller (average size) people. I am 6’2” and 270lbs. Plus, having to start with the concentric movement means I either get a spotter or can’t use as much weight as I wanted to. I get more growth as I said, doing a lot of work with partial ROM. I feel this keeps the tension on the muscle much more that when you do full ROM, plus you can lift even more weight. Not only is time under tension very important (pump), the maximal mechanical stress is just as important as it cause IGF-1 to split to IGF-1Ec or MGF (myofibrillar growth). Of course like Mike Arnold said, this is why it is important to use exercises that allow you to put maximal mechanical stress on the muscle. These are usually bilateral exercises using a barbell.

 

[Theanswer]

Yea, this story is crazy! From my hometown, and the pic they used of the kid on the article looked just like my step brother, I panicked as soon as I saw, cuz I know he's a fairly novice lifter. But, so yea, very empathetic to the family.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[eric11]

Kid

Dang poor kid sorry. 2 hear this,heart goes out to his family.

 

[Elvia1023]

Very sad news. You always have to be careful and focused to ensure things like this don't happen. I have never dropped a weight on myself but a few things have happened over the years. Once I was stuck at the bottom of the hack squat with a lot of weight (at least 7 plates a side). I had done many reps but had basically failed thinking I could get another one but no chance and I had to shout for strangers to come and rescue me. An incline bench once broke (went flat) when I was incline pressing heavy weight which was very dangerous. I also stood up with my legs stuck in a leg extension machine and accidentally fell over twisting my knee badly.

Thankfully I have never had an accident when barbells/db's or dropped weight on myself (excluding my toe ). I am always extra careful and don't take too big of jumps in weight when pressing etc. Although I do chest press thumbless as it feels so much better to me. I use gloves so have a good grip but sure not ideal safety wise but it's much better for me and I am always careful.

 

[Dens228]

Another thing to keep in mind is that bad things can happen when you least expect it.
Years ago I tore my quad at a powerlifting meet. It was my opening attempt with a pretty easy weight. I had trouble making weight for the meet and was still a little dehydrated. I told my wife things weren't going good during warm ups because I wasn't sweating.

First attempt felt light, went down to depth and was 3/4 of the way up when the massive leg cramp kicked in and I dropped like a rock, folding like an accordion under the bar. The spotters felt horrible about not catching it. It went down so fast that I didn't blame them one bit. The quad tore because you shouldn't use 700 pounds to stretch out a cramp.

It was a partial tear, took about a year to fully recover. But it could have been much worse.

 

[doug1]

Sad story for sure. Good advice on this thread on how to be safer.

 

[MisterB]

OMG thats a gym nightmare, could not imagine getting that phone call

 

[romo]

It is so instant,spotters can not really do anything but pull it off.

 

[maldorf]

Another thing that can be dangerous is using dumbells to bench. One day I was using dumbells for flat bench because I was working out with others, and just about crushed my head with one. Since I wasn't used to doing dumbbell flat bench I didn't really know how much weight to use so I just guessed. I only got out about 8 reps and then on the 9th attempt my left triceps muscle just gave out completely, I have never seen anything like it. My arm immediately went into flexion and the dumbbell came crashing down toward my head, right at it. Luckily my spotter was watching close enough and he caught it about 3 inches from my head. I think it was just about 100 lbs.

With barbell at least you have the other arm to slow down the bar coming down. Dumbells are nice though because you can dump them off a lot easier.

 

[landmarkchem.linda]

passed away at such a young age, sad news!

R.I.P!

 

[Pericles]

depends how youre built. For shorter guys with shorter, moderate arms barbell bench ,works for their structure. For Tall guys with long arms it doesnt do much and hits front delts more. Its also the number one exercise Ive personally seen people get injured on. My trainer partner tore his pec doing 315b or 340 or something many many years ago.

read or watch some Dorian Yates Videos on the bench press , he explains why youve got to find what works for your structure, limb length, range of motion , etc do what works best for you but just bc it works for you doesnt mean itll work for everyone

will a beginner build up their chest? sure

but when youve been bodybuilder 5,10,15 years, and competitively over seven years now, you find out what works for yourself

IF he tore his pec with flat bench that should tell how you effective it actually is at PEC MAJOR recruitment.EMG research all show that wider grip flat is superior to all. If these guys are getting injured its due to soft tissue restrictions and scapular instability not the damn bench press. Arnold isn't tall? The avg bodybuilder is 5'8 to 5'10. Arnold had long as fuck arms and built a better chest than anyone in history.

 

[Pericles]

Thats arguable. For most..flat bench tends to blow up peoples Shoulder and Tricep growth if anything .

when done incorrectly and this applies to any pressing variation. Stop posting up dogmatic nonsense.

 

[Pericles]

Any form of bench press is undoubtedly great for building power in ones upper body but for bodybuilders I would respectfully disagree with this. The statement may be valid for power athletes but does not hold true for bodybuilders. The barbell bench press at any angle will incorporate several stabilizing and assisting muscle groups and has the tendency to pull/push shoulder and elbow joints out of their productive ranges of motion. The result of this is a lack of maximal pectoral muscle activation and an increased risk of joint injury. True pectoral strength and activation occurs best trough isolation and free motion movements with dumbbells.

Fromt a horizontal adduction standpoint you can't equate. IE 100lb dumbbells vs. a 275lb bench, which one puts more total load on the pec major? Lots of references online and each individuals anthropology will dictate who gets the most stimulation. ON avg any incline angle is going to increase the amount of anterior delt. That's not refutable .

 

[lafbear]

Had to be a horrible way to go.

 

[fatboybbw]

Very sad new, I can't imagine what the family is going thru
Heart and prayers , Rest in peace